


so only say my name

by destiny919



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: As you do, F/M, Fluff, Identity Reveal, adrien figures it out first and then tries to reveal himself to marinette, half of one anyway, in every way except just actually telling her
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 04:36:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11456124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destiny919/pseuds/destiny919
Summary: "You don't understand, Chat," she said just the teensiest bit bitterly. "I get totally tongue-tied and just generally act ridiculous around him."Ladybug behaving like that was such an incongruous image that Chat couldn't help saying so. "I have a very hard time picturing that, my lady."





	so only say my name

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Just One Yesterday" by Fall Out Boy, which has precisely jack and shit to do with the actual content of this fic.

It was a beautiful evening in Paris. Spring was just beginning and the smell of fresh rain lingered in the air even while the pavement was dry. Chat Noir sat in his and Ladybug's favorite spot on the Eiffel Tower, waiting for his partner so they could patrol. 

Patrolling wasn't strictly necessary, since if an akuma attack happened they'd find out no matter where in the city either of them was. But Ladybug was adamant about making sure they kept her promise to ensure the people of Paris' safety, and making regular peaceful appearances helped affirm that. Crime rates had also gone down significantly when the city's underworld learned that on any given night Ladybug and Chat Noir could be right around the corner. So, they patrolled. 

Those were all Ladybug's reasons, anyway. Chat was just glad he got to see his lady outside of battle. And he had a sneaking suspicion she felt the same. 

He didn't have to sit there alone much longer. Chat loved the view from the Eiffel Tower more than most things in the world, and the exception to that soon gracefully dropped down beside him.

"Bonsoir, chaton," Ladybug said, smiling at him so sweetly. 

"Bonsoir, Ladybug," he purred back. 

"Nice night," she observed. 

"Nicer now." She only scoffed at him and flicked his bell. "Shall we get going?" he said. His lady usually went right to business. Chat understood that she too led a busy life as a civilian, but unlike him, she wasn't always so desperate to escape it. 

"Not yet," Ladybug said, surprising him. "Let's just admire the view."

"I already am!" Chat Noir waggled his eyebrows, making it very clear which view he was talking about. 

She rolled her eyes and smiled but didn't continue their usual banter. This happened occasionally. Ladybug would show up for patrol in an introspective mood, and Chat would coax whatever it was out of her, in as much detail as she was willing to offer. It got easier and easier as they became closer, which thrilled him to no end. 

Thus, he felt somewhat confident cutting to the chase tonight. "What's on my lady's mind tonight?"

Ladybug looked at him, obviously about to make a totally transparent denial, but deflated when he gave her a look. "You might not like hearing about this," she sighed, warning him. 

"I like hearing anything you want to tell me."

She merely gaped at him for a second, like she usually did when he busted out the earnest instead of the puns or flirting. And then she looked away. 

"There's a boy," she muttered, "in my class."

Chat felt a sharp, hot twinge in his chest. He probably should have expected something like this. After all, even if she didn't feel that way about him, Ladybug was still an ordinary teenage girl behind her mask, and he knew that better than anyone. "Ah," he mustered up, managing to make it sound knowing and not at all pained. 

"Yeah." Ladybug sighed. "I have a massive crush on him and I don't know if he even thinks of me as a friend. We only ever hang out because our best friends are already dating."

"So you're missing out on being a perfect foursome." Adrien loved hanging out with Nino, Alya, and Marinette. It would be even better if Marinette could get over that odd nervousness around him... He realized that by his own comparison that would also mean he and Marinette should  _ date _ , and quickly refocused his attention on Ladybug. 

"My best friend is always trying to put us together but nothing's worked so far." Ladybug sighed. "Sometimes I think I should just be grateful Adrien knows I exist."

If Chat Noir had been drinking something, he would have spat it out. "A-Adrien?" he croaked. 

Ladybug immediately looked horrorstruck. "Oops!" she squeaked. "Yeah, um. That's his name?"

Chat  _ \- Adrien _ \- calmed down as he reminded himself that his had to be one of the most common names in Paris. Still, it was an unbelievable (and somewhat utterly  _ agonizing _ if he was being honest) coincidence. "Well, um." Chat Noir's mind and heart were both working overtime to get past both the shock of the name and the hurt of Ladybug liking someone else, so he could be a supportive partner! "Have you tried just hanging out more? Becoming better friends? I'm sure he'd love to."

"I can't," Ladybug mumbled. "I'll just make a fool of myself."

"Oh, come on, I'm sure that's not true!" 

"You don't understand, Chat," she said just the teensiest bit bitterly. "I get totally tongue-tied and just generally act ridiculous around him." 

Ladybug behaving like that was such an incongruous image that Chat couldn't help saying so. "I have a very hard time picturing that, my lady."

She shook her head. "I've told you, chaton, as a civilian I'm nothing like this."

"That's not true," Chat said firmly. "I don't know you behind the mask -  _ yet _ -" she rolled her eyes playfully when he winked at her - "but everything you are as Ladybug, you are as a civilian. Even if you don't always act like it..." He trailed off, thinking of his own reserved behavior as Adrien. 

"If that's true for both of us, I pity all the people in your civilian life who have to hear your puns all day," Ladybug teased him, but Chat's ears drooped a bit. 

"I-I'm not like this without the mask," he admitted. "However different you seem, my lady, I can guarantee I'm even moreso." He added softly, "The masks make us  _ free _ ."

Ladybug looked over at him with concerned, tender eyes. "You're not free?"

Chat shook his head, gazing out over the sparkling city. "You'd never recognize me if we somehow met as civilians." He dropped his sudden melancholy as quickly as he'd picked it up, in only as long as it took him to put on a flirtatious grin - so, a split second. "Maybe we already have! Do you know any brilliant, debonair blonds?"

"Wow," Ladybug said dryly, "then I guess you really  _ are _ different as a civilian."

Chat Noir clutched his chest, performing his favorite feat of theatrics. "You wound me, my lady!"

"Yeah, yeah." Ladybug laughed. But, even if she'd gone along with his abrupt mood shift, she remembered how sad her partner had gotten. She linked her arm with his and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Whoever civilian Chat Noir is, I'm sure he's wonderful."

Chat leaned his head on top of hers and sighed gratefully. "Thank you, my lady."

"Anytime, chaton."  
  


.........................................  
  


Ladybug liked to claim she never hated Hawkmoth as much as she did when he sent an akuma before 9am, and today's fell three hours shy of her limit. Chat Noir, used to early hours because of his heavy schedule, did not share quite so much of his lady's vitriol, but today he was every bit as outraged. 

After all, he'd finally gotten to sleep less than two hours ago. 

Last night after Ladybug's confession, Adrien had laid awake tossing and turning. He was caught between sick, burning jealousy and desperate, indefatigable hope that  _ he _ could be the Adrien. That Ladybug could somehow be in his class and have a crush on  _ him _ .

He remembered his moment of horror when he thought Chloe might be Ladybug. Even if he hadn't quickly been shown the impossibility of this, he knew better now. He knew  _ Ladybug _ better. But he couldn't think of anyone else in his class who might have a crush on him, let alone could also be Ladybug. 

It was almost certainly pointless wishful thinking, anyway. 

All these things ran through his mind for hours while he tried and failed to sleep. When he'd last looked at the clock, it read 4:07. And it was now 6:17, and Chat Noir barely had the energy to lift his fist and bump Ladybug's.

"You okay, Chaton?"

"Yeah." Ladybug looked unconvinced, but before she could press the issue, her earrings and his ring both beeped. They'd used Lucky Charm and Cataclysm simultaneously today, and they both only had two minutes left. 

"See you at patrol later!" Ladybug gave him a wave before she swung off to find a secluded place to detransform. Chat scampered up a building and across a few rooftops to do the same. 

He found a nice hidden ledge with a minute to spare. "Okay, Plagg, claws in!"

Adrien was suffused in green light and then the little kwami flopped onto his knee. "Cheese," he moaned. 

"I know, I know." Adrien took a generous wedge of camembert out of his bag and tossed it straight into Plagg's waiting maw. 

He heard a sudden whizz and crash, and peered around the ledge into the alley below just in time to see  _ Ladybug _ pull the lid of a dumpster closed on top of her. A bright pink flash, and too quickly for him to have looked away, the lid opened. 

And out came Marinette. 

Later, Adrien regarded it as a miracle that he hadn't fallen off the ledge. Marinette -  _ Ladybug _ \- spoke briefly with her red kwami, whose high voice was too soft for his ears to make out without Chat Noir's enhanced hearing. Not that he wanted to eavesdrop. He'd already learned enough of his lady's secrets. 

_ Oh. Crap.  _ He hadn't found out her identity on purpose, but what if she was angry anyway? Marinette already didn't like him much, just tolerated his presence for Nino and Alya's sake. He'd  _ thought _ she was warming up to him, but this could destroy all that progress! He'd betrayed her! His lady trusted him more than anyone and his catlike reflexes had abandoned him just in time to violate that!

Adrien was most of the way into a panic attack and barely even noticed Marinette was gone until Plagg flew up and headbutted him in the forehead, hard. 

"Hey, kid," he said. "Calm down. You didn't find out on purpose and she'll understand. Especially when she finds out who  _ you _ are."

"What?" Adrien said helplessly. "What do you mean?"

Plagg rolled his eyes hugely. "Are you really so shocked you managed to forget last night?"

Adrien could only blink at his exasperated kwami. 

"Okay, kid, let me spell it out for you. Ladybug said she has a crush on a boy in her class."

"Yes."

"Marinette is in your class. Marinette is Ladybug. Ladybug said the boy's name is Adrien."

Adrien's eyes grew wide. "... _ I'm _ the only Adrien in our class."

Plagg smirked. "You sure are."

"M-Marinette has a crush on me?" he said blankly. " _ Ladybug _ has a crush on me!"

"Congratulations, kid."

"Oh my god." Adrien's hands covered his mouth. "Oh my  _ god _ ."

"Do you have any more cheese on you?"

" _ Oh my god! _ "  
  


.........................................  
  


Adrien was practically vibrating in his seat later that morning, all his exhaustion forgotten. Nino was playing on his phone next to him, and his other classmates trickled in slowly, but there was only one he wanted to see. 

He was distracted from his frantic vigil when Nino put down his phone and said to him, "Dude, are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Adrien assured him, well aware that his manic tone and staccato finger drumming showed just how not true that was.

"Either you had way too much coffee or you're so exhausted you came out the other side into hyper, but you definitely didn't get enough sleep last night, dude. You look terrible." Nino looked concerned, and Adrien felt a swell of appreciation for his best friend. And then his last statement registered. 

" _ What _ ?" His hands flew to his face and he tugged at his cheeks. "I do?" He couldn't look terrible! He was going to see his lady soon!

Adrien was so distracted by this worry that he didn't notice she had actually arrived until he heard a bag thump behind him and whipped his head around. "H-Hi, Marinette!"

Marinette started badly. "Adrien! Hi! How morning you? I- I mean, how are this morning?" Alya smacked her on the arm and Marinette shook her head. "H-How are you?"

Adrien's lips slowly unfurled into a smile. This was his  _ lady _ , his clever, invincible lady, stammering and staring at him. "I'm great," he said. "How about you?"

Marinette turned crimson. "M-Me too," she choked out. 

Adrien wanted to say more - he actually wanted to crack a terrible joke and see Marinette's nose wrinkle like Ladybug's, even while her ocean-blue eyes shone at him. But Mme. Bustier called the class to order before he could, and he had to force himself to turn away. With his lady sitting behind him, it was going to be very difficult to pay attention to the lesson and not keep turning around, just to look at her. 

He slipped up several times during class, and every time, he found Marinette's bright eyes staring back at him. She started and blushed again without fail every time, too. Adrien couldn't help smiling every time he turned away. 

As soon as class ended for lunch, Adrien's first instinct was to invite him and Nino along with the girls to the bakery like they usually did, especially in light of his revelation this morning, but he had a very important question to ask his best friend first. 

Right when Nino was turning to Alya, Adrien grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the room while he yelped in protest. Alya waved after them, looking bemused. 

"Adrien! What the hell, bro?" Nino complained while he was dragged through the courtyard. Once they reached a sufficiently secluded corner (with Chloe nowhere in sight), Adrien let go. 

Nino rubbed his forearm theatrically. "Dude! That's totally gonna bruise! I always forget how damn strong you are, even looking like a string bean."

_ Thanks, Plagg _ . "Does Marinette have a crush on me?" Adrien demanded without preamble. 

Nino sagged with exaggerated relief. "Took you long enough to figure it out, man. I was doubting whether even homeschooled obliviousness could justify that level of mad density."

"Huh." Adrien couldn't help the entirely too Chat-like grin from spreading across his face.

"Whoa, do you like her back?" Nino asked curiously. 

"Maybe," Adrien mumbled, his suddenly burning cheeks surely betraying him. 

"Dude!" Nino exclaimed. "Ask her out!"

"Not yet." He shook his head. "I gotta get her to relax around me first."  _ I gotta get her to figure out I'm Chat. _

"Probably a good idea," Nino conceded. "Won't be a very fun date if she can barely talk or keeps tripping over her own feet. Although it might be cool if it meant catching her!" He winked. 

"I guess you could say I would  _ sweep her off her feet _ ." Adrien smirked while Nino groaned. 

"Whatever you do, do  _ not _ make those lame puns on a date!"

If only he knew.  
  


.........................................  
  


Meanwhile, Marinette was laying facedown on her bed at home, screaming into her cat pillow, while Alya sat in her desk chair and calmly munched on a fresh croissant from the bakery. 

"I mean, did I have something in my teeth?" Marinette mumbled for the fifth time.

"Girl, I told you, no. Only reason Adrien kept looking at you was because of how gorgeous you are."

"I had huge bags under my eyes today, Alya." Because she got woken up at 6am by an akuma attack, but Alya probably thought she'd been up late working on a design again or something. 

"I can't believe you didn't notice, but so did Adrien. Worse than yours - dark enough that all the Gabriel concealer in the world couldn't have covered them up."

Marinette sat bolt upright. "He did?" she squeaked. "I hope he's okay! Why do you think he was so tired?" She leapt up and almost fell down the ladder in her haste, and pulled down her ridiculous Adrien schedule. "He didn't have an early photoshoot this morning. Oh no!" Marinette's hands flew to her cheeks. "What if he was up late because he was talking to some gorgeous model girl in America and he's falling in love with her and he's going to marry her and move to the US and I'll never even see him again!"

Alya stood up and planted her hands on Marinette's tense shoulders, steering her back until she pushed her down to sit in the desk chair she'd just vacated. "Calm down. I'm sure he was just up late playing co-op with Nino."

"Playing co-op with Adrien," Marinette said dreamily, switching gears easily. "He and I would be an unbeatable team."

"You would be," Alya agreed. "Which is why Nino and I will never let that happen."

"Alya! How could you betray me so selfishly!" Marinette leaned back dramatically. "What if beating you two at video games is the only way Adrien will ever fall in love with me?"

"Then you'll just have to become a spinster, I guess. You already beat me badly enough on your own."

Marinette pouted at her and Alya  laughed. "Come on, girl. You need to eat something before we go back to class."  
  


.........................................  
  


The afternoon went much the same as the morning, with one notable exception. 

When the day ended and everyone was packing up to leave, Adrien turned to Marinette. 

"Hey, Marinette," he said, already starting to grin a little bit, "did you hear about the restaurant on the moon?"

Marinette just blinked at him, where his lady would already know what was coming. She would roll her eyes, but smile ever so slightly while she waited patiently to hear her chaton's beloved punchline. "Um, I don't think so?"

"The food's supposed to be great, but it has no  _ atmosphere _ !"

Alya and Nino both groaned loudly while Marinette just stared at him. "Dude! What did I tell you!" Nino scolded him. 

"Did...Did you just make a pun?" Marinette whispered. 

"I sure did!" Adrien said cheerfully. "Why, didn't you think it was  _ punny _ ?"

"Dude, no," Nino moaned. "Why would you say that, Marinette, if you respond to him he'll never stop!"

Alya leaned in towards them. "Marinette loves puns," she said slyly. "Her papa makes them all the time. She complains but I always see her smile."

_ Sounds familiar.  _

Adrien gave her what he hoped was a winning smile without being too Chat. The deepening blush on her cheeks seemed to indicate he was successful. "Well, there's plenty more where that  _ puns _ from!"

"Ohh, no there's not." It was Nino's turn to grab Adrien's arm, getting his revenge for earlier, and dragged him out of the classroom. Adrien went without a fuss, craning his neck to wave goodbye to the girls. Marinette was still standing there, dumbstruck, while Alya snickered. 


End file.
